.BLACK MAGIC.
.4.
Sam's been scanning the woods for what feels like hours. He follows bare footprints on the forest floor in a desperate search for his brother.
"Dean!" he yells out again. He's worried now. Correction, he was worried when he woke up and Dean was missing from the hotel room. He's especially worried now. Because Dean's wandering around sick and not in the right state of mind.
"Dean!" he calls again into the dark forest. Still no answer.
Dean assumes he's passed out. He hears a faint calling of his name but he's still plunged in blackness.
Sam moves forward through the thick brush and finally see's his brother. His heart jumps into his throat as he sees the form laying splayed down, face first against the ground. He runs over, Dean's name on repeat, but Dean doesn't even stir.
When he reaches to roll him over he expects to see closed eyes, pale face, but instead Dean's eyes are staring straight up into nothingness.
Ah god, Sammy, thank god.
"Dean?" Sam questions, happy to see his brother is at least awake. But Dean doesn't respond. Doesn't speak, doesn't blink, doesn't even flinch.
"Dean?" he questions again, shaking his brother's shoulders, "what's wrong? where are you hurt?"
Dean see's Sam in his line of sight, hears everything he's saying, but as much as he tries he can't make his body do anything. What the hell, what the hell, what the hell. Sam.
"Dean, this isn't funny. Snap out of it. Dean!"
And Dean wishes he could. Really he does. Because he's really starting to panic and feel scared. But as much as he urges himself to speak, to even twitch a finger, nothing happens. He's just stuck laying there with a limp body and words sitting on the end of his tongue.
"Okay Dean, hang on. I'm gonna get you help." Sam says as he hoists his brother over his shoulder and begins the hike back to town, "just hang on."
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Sam gets back to the hotel as fast as he can while still carrying his brother. Dean still hasn't moved or made any attempts to talk to Sam and Sam doesn't think twice when he's immediately laying Dean into the backseat of the impala and taking off as fast as he can in the direction of the nearest hospital.
He pulls up, the impala taking up two spots as he slams on the breaks and the car screeches to a halt.
Dude, careful on the car.
Dean hears rustling, before he realizes that Sam is digging through the consoles in search of a fake ID with some insurance attached to it.
"K, good." he mumbles to himself as he launches himself out of the front seat and pulls the rear door open.
Deans looking up at Sam's face, even upside down the worry is evident. He lazily blinks - the only thing he has been able to do.
"Dean? You with me?" Sam lets out hoping for an answer. When he gets no response he reaches down and is pulling his brother, dead weight and all, from the backseat. He lifts him over his shoulder as he marches into the hospital.
"I need some help over here!"
"What's happened?" A young nurse shouts as she rushes towards them pushing a gurney.
"Sick - my brothers been sick. Fever. Flu. I think. I just - I just woke up and found him like this. He c-can't - he can't speak. Can't move."
"It's okay, we're going to do everything we can to help." the nurse reassures Sam as she and other nurses help him lower Dean to the gurney. "What's his name?"
"He can't move." Sam says getting lost in his own world.
"Hey!" the nurse shouts, snapping Sam out of his trance, "what's his name?"
"Dean, his name's Dean."
"We're going to do everything we can. Wait over there." she says as they wheel Dean away from Sam. He feels completely lost. Just stands there staring after them - even after they've turned down a hall and aren't in his site anymore.
"Come on, hun." Sam jumps slightly at the grey haired nurse hooking a comforting arm around his back and leading him towards the waiting room. "This way. We'll get started on the paperwork."
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"His pupils are reactive." the doctor reaches down and rubs a hand against his sternum, "Dean? Can you speak to me buddy?"
Dean wants to. Wants to tell him to fuck off and stop assaulting his sternum because it really hurts. But he can't speak. Can't even move.
"Come on buddy, talk to me." the doctor repeats.
I'm freaking' trying here. Dean thinks as he wishes for any kind of movement to take over his body. He'd even be happy if a groan could escape his lips, but he doesn't even get that satisfaction.
A pen light enters his eyes again and he wants to scream.
He feels his clothes being cutoff and wires being hooked up.
Ouch. You son of a bitch. Dean is thinking as he watches the doctor pull the needle from his finger.
"Anything?" a nurse speaks up.
"Nothing." The doctor replies as he moves down to Dean's foot and pushes the needle into his big toe.
Goddamn, knock it off! Dean wants to yell.
"No reaction to pain stimuli."
"What is going on here?" one of the nurses says out into the trauma room.
"I've got no idea, let's get this kid to a CT scan and MRI immediately. See if we can't find out an answer."
Yeah, answers would be good. Like today.
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It's been days at the hospital. There's been an endless amount of tests and doctors still can't explain to Sam what's wrong with his brother. Dean has remained silent, motionless. Green eyes staring straight ahead, a lazy blink occurring not nearly enough.
They put drops in his eyes throughout the day to keep them from drying out. The second day they put in a feeding tube. Snaked it up Dean's nose and down to his stomach. Sam sat with him through the procedure to be able to comfort him, but he just laid there. At night they give Dean a sedative and tape his eye lids down, they assure Sam he gets enough sleep every night and that's where Sam currently sits. Hunkered in an uncomfortable chair with Dean's hand held tight in his own.
Sam finally gets fed up and demands answers after all the tests. The doctors still can't give them. They explained that the CT scan and MRI all came back normal. Normal brain function and normal brain activity. That Dean should be talking. Should be moving. And the only reason they could see that he wasn't was simply because he wouldn't.
Sam laughed in their face.
He knew Dean, and he knew there was no way that Dean was just going to roll over and die. Stop moving, stop talking, lay there well they poked, prodded, and threaded tubes into his body. Something was wrong.
"I'm sorry Sam, there's nothing else we can do for your brother here. Medically, he isn't at a risk. He needs a psychiatric evaluation-"
"No." Sam cut off the doctor.
"Sam he needs professional help. We can't give him that here." the doctor implores. He knows it's a low blow when he continues, using Sam's obvious protectiveness against the older boy, but the doctor needs to free up this bed, and he knows the hospital is no longer a place for Dean's case. "I know you only want what's best for your brother. This is it. I'm giving you the answer."
"H-he's not some kind of crazy person." Sam stutters out as he stands up and faces the doctor full on.
"Sam, I'm not saying he is," the doctor assures as he raises his hands, "I'm just saying a hospital isn't where he belongs anymore, we can't get him better here. Let's get him the kind of help he needs and see if we can't get back the guy you knew, huh?"
Sam still looks uncertain, so the doctor continues speaking.
"Sam, Meadowvale is the best psychiatric care facility around. They're top of the line in this field and even have trained medical staff on hand. A doctor and group of nurses as well as all the original staff trained for psych cases. They can do their job and still have the resources available to do medical research if need be without having to worry about having Dean transferred back and forth between facilities…which can take a toll on his mental state. The nurses there can keep up with his feeding tube cleaning and changing and any other things that he would normally have to have done at a hospital. We want to keep everything as easy as possible for your brother. Eliminate any extra stress, and let him focus on getting better."
Sam's convinced now. Knows that this is what's best for his brother and his road to recovery. However long that may be. "When do we leave?" He asks the doctor.
"I can phone over right now and have everything arranged for a transfer tonight."
"Okay. Set it up." Sam says with a sigh.
"You're doing the right thing, Sam." the doctor says as he squeezes the brother's shoulder before leaving the room.
"Yeah. I hope so." he sighs, as he sits back down beside Dean's bed and grabs his hand into his own.
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"Dean, we need to go over some things." Sam says hesitantly to Dean Just before 6pm. They'd both just been sitting there in silence since Dean's eyes had been untaped for the day and he'd been awake - if that's even what you can call Dean's state. He still hasn't moved or uttered two words to Sam. "We're leaving this hospital tonight-"
About time…these fucking quakes have done shit all for me. Dean is miserable. Angry. Tired of lying lifelessly in a hospital bed. There - but not there.
"I've read up on the facility - it seems really nice. I think it might be able to help…and I just want to say before hand - look I know you're not crazy okay? - "
What are you talking about?
"and I think you're still in there - so I'm just going to apologize before hand -"
Sam, what did you do? And Dean's actually beginning to worry a little bit.
"But it's not just a psychiatric hospital okay. They've got regular doctors and nurses too and I think it's going to be good for you - for us, okay?"
Oh Sam, no, no, no. A fucking mental hospital! What have you done!
"It will all be okay, you'll see." But Dean can tell that even Sam seems unconvinced by that statement. He always could tell when Sam was lying.
Stop saying okay! This is not okay Sam!
"Okay, they're here to pick you up. I'm going to ride over in the ambulance with you."
Dean's doctor enters first with two paramedics following who are pushing a gurney. The hospital has established that Dean is stable and remove the heart monitor and IV, but leave the feeding tube before sending him to Meadowvale.
Dean feels suffocated when the paramedics transfer his lifeless body to the gurney and wrap a blanket around him. Straps are tightened across his chest, belly, thighs, and calfs and then he's rolling down the hallway, Sam following beside him with a handful of head scans to pass on to the doctor at the Meadowvale Psychiatric Facility.
It's a 35 minute drive to Meadowvale. The ambulance comes to a stop and the rear doors are opened up. Sam steps out first.
"Yeah. It's nice, Dean." Sam says with caution in his voice as he looks around.
Dean is pulled out of the back of the ambulance and gets his first real look, and it is nice - he hates it immediately. It's fabricated, perfect, nothing out of place. It's a false image.
They don't spend much time out side before pushing Dean towards the large wooden doors. The foyer is bright and airy, fancy wood floors, a large receptionist desk is just inside with young pretty girls sitting behind it. A few large fancy chairs and couches are seated to the side.
"Hi welcome." One of them beams as she moves out from behind the desk. "Sam, Dean," she smiles, "follow me."
They follow her down a couple hallways, Sam notices there are some bedrooms, a nice large kitchen and bathrooms, probably for the staff and guests. He knows immediately they've got to the patients section when he nurse pulls out a access card to move beyond the doors. It worries Sam. Worries Sam that he's about to leave Dean locked behind these doors. Doors that he's not going to be be able to get back through easily.
The other side of the doors are a completely different look to the front area of Meadowvale. It's stark white, empty and clean. There's another desk with nurses sitting behind it and different halls leading away - all requiring access cards or codes to enter. They're directed down a hall and Sam looks at all the doors along the wall - locked, with small windows in the door.
"Sam. We've been expecting you. I'm Dr. Brooks, the leading therapist, and founder of Meadowvale" the doctor says as he reaches forward and shakes the young man's hand with a firm grip, "and that must make you Dean," he continues as he places a comforting hand onto Dean's shoulder, "it's good to meet you Dean, we're glad you're here."
But Dean's not. His mood has continually been going downhill since his first day in the hospital. He'd been through so much in the past couple days and not being able to voice his opinion was making him more miserable by the minute.
He'd endured endless amounts of tests, a lot of them painful and uncomfortable, and because he couldn't move, couldn't speak, the doctors had just continued to assault his body not knowing he could feel everything.
He'd been trying for days to speak to Sam. Make any kind of contact that would let Sam know he was in there and fighting but he needed help. But no matter how hard he tried, it never worked. He just couldn't make himself speak.
"And this is Katie, Sam. She's a new nurse completing a full-time internship. Her future looks promising. She's a registered nurse as well as having psych training. She'll be spending a lot of hours here, particularly on Dean's case. We like to get patients used to a few familiar faces in the beginning…give them someone they can trust and depend on. Dean will have me as his doctor and Katie as his main nurse. We'll substitute another nurse for the hours that Katie isn't with Dean. Those will usually be nights while he's sleeping."
"Hi Dean. Hope you're ride over here was okay." Katie says to Dean before turning to Sam, "It's nice to meet you, Sam. Your brother's in the best hands here. Dr. Brooks is a genius in his field and I'll do everything I can to make sure he's comfortable during his stay here."
"Thanks. I, uh, I really appreciate that. He's never been the type to have people looking after him…he always did the looking out. I worry about what this is going to do to him."
"Ah, the older brother, isn't he?"
Sam nods with a small smile.
"Don't worry, I grew up with 3 brothers. I'm a skilled professional in the 'older brothers' area," Katie says with a smile and wink, "Dean's in good hands, Sam. Don't worry about a thing. We're going to get him settled in tonight, get him some sleep. You come back tomorrow during visiting hours and see for yourself that everything's fine, okay?"
Sam, please, you - you can't leave me here. Sam. Please.
Sam looks hesitant for a second, before a sigh escapes his lips, "okay."
Sam please don't leave me in this place.
Dean wants to cry. It sucks but he's never felt more vulnerable in his entire life. The past couple nights - all be it, miserable nights - had been survived with Sam sitting by his side. Sam, his brother - a hunter - next to his bed. Watching him. Protecting him. What was Dean supposed to do now? Being dropped off in a strange place with his brother being kicked out until visiting hours. Left alone completely defenceless.
"I'll see you tomorrow, Sam." Katie says confidently before beginning to wheel Dean down the hallway. She sends a cute smile over her shoulder towards Sam who smiles back and raises a hand in parting.
"Too easy." she says disappointedly as a scowl overtakes her features.
Dean's heart beats faster in his chest as he listens to her sneakers squeak along the white linoleum floor. Katie turns Dean's bed roughly into a room - number 374 - jostling Dean's still body when she bounces the bed off the door frame.
"I know you're in there buddy. Unmoving. Watching. Listening. Just stuck." she says as she gets his bed into place and locks the wheels down. "You're probably wondering what this is all about."
Dean watches the nurse move in front of him, hand trailing down his neck, chest, stomach, and finally resting on his thigh with a gentle squeeze.
"I should introduce myself. Seems kind of rude not to, huh?"
Dean just stares at her. It's not like there's anything else he can do.
"Hmph," she giggles, "You're so cute just sitting there." she smiles, before digging her nails sharply into Dean's thigh.
"My name's Katie. Katie Smith. You might remember my sister. Christine. Working your last case seemed to find my sister falling from a rooftop. Ring a bell?"
Dean's heart skips a beat. Yeah, he hated fucking witches.
"Turns out I want payback. Hey Deanie, We're really going to have some fun now." she says with a malicious smile before injecting the sedative into his IV and taping his eyes shut for the night. "I'll see you in the morning," she whispers into his ear as she caresses a hand against the other side of his head.
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